'Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time' is fun, if brainless, summertime fare

Jake Gyllenhaal and Gemma Arterton make a fast -- and wet -- getaway in 'Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.'To say "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" is among the best movies ever inspired by a video game is to come dangerously close to damning the latest Disney-backed, Jerry Bruckheimer-produced spectacle with faint praise.

It's a genre littered with such regrettable films as "Super Mario Bros." and "Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li." And the "best-of" list? That pretty much begins and ends with "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" -- which, since we're being honest, is a movie that pretty much begins and ends with Angelina Jolie's long legs and clingy shirt.

So praise for the oversized, action-filled "Prince of Persia" comes with an additional qualification. It tops the list of video game-inspired movies, but it also is a surprisingly entertaining movie on its own, a strap-yourself-in, suspend-your-disbelief summer popcorn adventure.

Sure, the often-cornball dialogue could have used another polish or two, and the requisite witty one-liners aren't frequent or funny enough. Also, as any "Lost" fan can tell you, time-shifting plot devices, such as the magical dagger at the movie's center, are bound to be weighted down by the circular, head-spinning logic they invite.

Jake Gyllenhaal battles a baddie in 'Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.'

PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SANDS OF TIME2.5 stars

Snapshot: A big-budget adventure, based on the video game, about a sixth-century Persian prince who must form unlikely alliances to protect a magical dagger.

What works: For what it is -- a buckle-yourself-in, suspend-your-disbelief summer popcorn adventure -- it works reasonably well.

But it's best not to dwell on all that. Rather, just give in to your inner 14-year-old -- because, as silly and brainless as it is, the "Prince of Persia" is the most fun that adventure-seeking movie-goers are likely to have without a joystick in their hand, at least at this point in the still-young summer movie season, anyway.

It all takes place in sixth-century Persia, and director Mike Newell ("Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire") makes the most of the movie's ancient Mideast setting. There are towering Persian palaces. There are sweeping desert vistas. There is a weeping symphonic score that shamelessly cribs from "Lawrence of Arabia."

There are curly-toed shoes.

(In a weird bit of cinematic confluence, all of those elements also appear in this week's other big release, "Sex and the City 2." Go figure.)

Often feeling like a live-action version of Disney's "Aladdin," Newell's movie focuses on the scrappy street-urchin-turned-prince Dastan (Jake Gyllenhaal). Just like in the video game, when Dastan gets into a scrape, he bounds across rooftops, he runs up walls, he flips and kicks, he slices and dices.

And there is plenty of slicing and dicing. This is a movie that loves its blades -- whether daggers, swords, scimitars, throwing stars. The breathless battle scenes are mostly bloodless, but "Prince of Persia" nonetheless achieves a body-count befitting a video game-inspired movie.

The blade that really matters, though, is that mystical dagger, with the power to turn back time -- coupled with the power to trigger Armageddon if it falls into the wrong hands.

Naturally, the wrong hands are eager to grasp it, and, naturally, Dastan has to protect it -- and clear his own name for good measure. All that forces him into an unlikely alliance with a headstrong princess (Gemma Arterton) and a scene-stealing conspiracy-theorist sheik (Alfred Molina).

If they fail? Well, game over.

And so Gyllenhaal flexes and fights in his loose-fitting vests and greasy hair. Ben Kingsley, as Dastan's faintly menacing uncle, sneers and snarls in eyeliner. Newell pans his camera dramatically across the desert and tries his best to help Bruckheimer discover the next globe-conquering Disney franchise.

Newell and company probably won't quite succeed on that last note. This is more of a poor man's "Pirates of the Caribbean." But "Prince of Persia" is fun anyway.